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What is a DIGITAL AlphaStation capable of, when running Windows NT4.0 SP6? - Printable Version

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What is a DIGITAL AlphaStation capable of, when running Windows NT4.0 SP6? - Irinikus - 03-29-2019

This video shows exactly what a DEC AlphaStation 255/300 is capable of, when running Windows NT4.0 SP6.



RE: What is a DIGITAL AlphaStation capable of, when running Windows NT4.0 SP6? - sgt_barnes - 04-02-2019

Very cool video, very nice machine!

And it's expecially nice that I finally found the other living person on this planet actually running NT4 on an Alpha! Biggrin

RE: What is a DIGITAL AlphaStation capable of, when running Windows NT4.0 SP6? - Irinikus - 04-03-2019

(04-02-2019, 10:11 PM)sgt_barnes Wrote:  Very cool video, very nice machine!

And it's expecially nice that I finally found the other living person on this planet actually running NT4 on an Alpha! Biggrin

In my opinion, it's definitely the way to go as far as these machines are concerned! I just couldn't accomplish anything useful with Tru64 running on the machine.

Windows NT4 converted it into a really pleasant machine to play with and gave me options that Tru64 simply didn't!

RE: What is a DIGITAL AlphaStation capable of, when running Windows NT4.0 SP6? - commodorejohn - 04-03-2019

I'll take the 2k release candidate, myself, but yes, Windows on Alpha is quite nice.

RE: What is a DIGITAL AlphaStation capable of, when running Windows NT4.0 SP6? - sgt_barnes - 04-03-2019

As a programmer by heart (and windows programmer by profession), I especially like the very good assembler integration with VC6 Pro.
It's so easy to accomplish something useful with the inline assembler, that I don't really understand why developers of the 90's didn't jump on the machines. I remember developing on sgi gear back in the day, and they would go out of their way to discourage you from writing MIPS assembler. So the good processor documentation and tools are a nice contrast. I even had a "January 2000" MSDN Library lying around, one of the latest versions with Alpha docs. A programmer's dream.

But then again, I don't have any possibility to check out earlier versions of the development tools, and I hear they were quite buggy, so it's probably not that big of a mystery...

RE: What is a DIGITAL AlphaStation capable of, when running Windows NT4.0 SP6? - jan-jaap - 04-03-2019

(04-03-2019, 03:39 AM)Irinikus Wrote:  In my opinion, it's definitely the way to go as far as these machines are concerned! I just couldn't accomplish anything useful with Tru64 running on the machine.

Windows NT4 converted it into a really pleasant machine to play with and gave me options that Tru64 simply didn't!
But ... you've effectively turned your Alpha into a beige Windows PC from the nineties, except it runs very little Windows software.

NB: I used to have DEC PWS and an AXPpci33. I mostly ran Linux on them, which isn't very exciting either. The AXPpci33 was exposed to the internet for years while running some (very) outdated services. Was kind of fun to see people trying to exploit it with x86 asms. At some point I sold them.

RE: What is a DIGITAL AlphaStation capable of, when running Windows NT4.0 SP6? - sgt_barnes - 04-03-2019

(04-03-2019, 09:50 AM)jan-jaap Wrote:  But ... you've effectively turned your Alpha into a beige Windows PC from the nineties, except it runs very little Windows software.

Yes, I understand your opinion. But in my case (I have and AXPpci, a PC164SX, and an EB164), most of the gear came with Windows Firmware flashed on it. And the SX even *is* a "Windows NT Kit", complete with manual and supplementary disks.

I really prefer to preserve the hardware in the original state. And finally, since all these where just boards with CPUs, they all essentially look like a PC from the nineties. Except the SX, which looks like a PC from 2019.  Biggrin

RE: What is a DIGITAL AlphaStation capable of, when running Windows NT4.0 SP6? - Irinikus - 04-03-2019

(04-03-2019, 09:50 AM)jan-jaap Wrote:  
(04-03-2019, 03:39 AM)Irinikus Wrote:  In my opinion, it's definitely the way to go as far as these machines are concerned! I just couldn't accomplish anything useful with Tru64 running on the machine.

Windows NT4 converted it into a really pleasant machine to play with and gave me options that Tru64 simply didn't!
But ... you've effectively turned your Alpha into a beige Windows PC from the nineties, except it runs very little Windows software.

NB: I used to have DEC PWS and an AXPpci33. I mostly ran Linux on them, which isn't very exciting either. The AXPpci33 was exposed to the internet for years while running some (very) outdated services. Was kind of fun to see people trying to exploit it with x86 asms. At some point I sold them.

You're 100% correct, but I really couldn't do anything useful with the machine when it was running Tru64. (I couldn't find anything that runs under Tru64.)

I suppose I just get pleasure out of running windows on a different type of CPU. (Which is sort of cool.)

Windows NT4.0 running on AlphBios was one of the original configurations for this machine.

I also managed to download the entire Alphant ftp containing hundreds of little programs which run on this machine under windows NT4

RE: What is a DIGITAL AlphaStation capable of, when running Windows NT4.0 SP6? - commodorejohn - 04-03-2019

Plus, with FX!32, you can run a good deal more than "very little Windows software." Not at full speed, of course, but fairly comparable with what you'd get on PCs of that era.

RE: What is a DIGITAL AlphaStation capable of, when running Windows NT4.0 SP6? - Irinikus - 04-03-2019

(04-03-2019, 05:12 AM)commodorejohn Wrote:  I'll take the 2k release candidate, myself, but yes, Windows on Alpha is quite nice.

I'm currently installing windows 2000 on the machine to see how it runs.